50 Facts About Me!

Hey guys! So now that there are more people reading my blog I decided it was time for me to do a '50 facts about me' tag! I'm sure you'll enjoy....

1. My full name is Katie-Jane Francis Middleton but everyone calls me Katie.

2. I am from a small seaside town in England called Cleethorpes. 

3. My starsign is Taurus.

4. I go to University and study English.

5. I love books and reading. The smell of new books is just something else.

6. I have five cats. Four boys and one girl (who we thought was a boy), here's a picture of them all below!

Top left: Cooky, he's my fur baby who I adore and the eldest at 12 years old.
Top right: Obi, he's a rescue cat. A little bit of a nutter and super needy with cuddles.
Bottom left: Ralph, a rescue cat (semi-feral) Very antisocial and timid but very comical and sneaky. He only lets mum touch him.
Bottom middle: Yaddle, this is Ralph's brother (semi-feral). He is Dad's favourite furbaby. He's a little bit nervous but loves a good stroke and cuddle.
Bottom right: Koda. We thought she was a he, so that was a bit of a shock, but she is so lovable and cute. She loves a good cuddle too. 

7. I believed there was a bacon animal for 15 years of my life. The back story for this you ask? When I was little, I wouldn't eat bacon so mum lied to me and made up a fake animal to get me to eat it. It worked. 

8. My biggest fears are probably the dark, needles and spiders. Although I think it's just injection needles that scare me - I'm fine with tattoo's and piercings. 

9. My favourite make up brands include MAC Cosmetics, Benefit Cosmetics, Urban Decay, Rimmel London and Max Factor.

10. I could spend hours in Lush. 

11. My favourite colour is green.

12. My favourite dish is my Mums homemade spaghetti bolognese and stuffed chicken wrapped in bacon *drools*.

13. I am a feminist.

14. My favourite snack food is crisps whether it's pringles, your standard multipacks, doritos... you name it, I'll probably eat it. They're my biggest weakness when it comes to eating healthy. 

15.  I love Great Danes, I'd love to have one when I'm older.

16. I love Orange Is The New Black. I also love American Horror Story but I had to stop watching seasons one and four because they freaked me out too much!

17. I love a good drink or three... 

18. My favourite flowers are tulips and hibiscus. 

19. I hate horror films or anything too creepy. No thank you. 

20. I get nightmares really easily. I hate it. I often find that when I wake up from a nightmare and go back to sleep, the nightmare will continue from where I woke up so I don't get to escape it. :( 

21. I love falling asleep to the rain beating down on the window, I find it so soothing.

22. I fell in love with my best friend from secondary school. Nearly five years later we're still together and going strong! 

23. Long walks down the beach are my favourite kind of walk.

24.  I have a thing for stationary. I could spend so long in Paperchase or down stationary aisles. 

25. When I was younger I had the biggest crush on Hercules and Aladdin... I hated Meg and Jasmine for hooking up with them! 

26. I have a thing for lipstick, I can't get enough of it.

27. I also love Game of Thrones, I've never been emotionally manipulated by something fictional until I discovered Game of Thrones. 

28. When I was younger, I hated wearing clothes. I would always strip off and run around in the nuddy, it's still partially true today haha.

29. I can nap almost on demand. I love it.

30. I'm a pretty fussy eater, but in the last few years I have definitely gotten braver with trying out new things! 

31. I have a real big sweet tooth. This is pretty gross to most people - but in a hot chocolate I will have another six sugars in. It's so bad for me but it's sooooooo good. 

32. I love fruit and I could eat it all day every day. 

33. Something pretty obvious already - I love make up and all things beauty.

34. My birthstone is diamond.

35. I haven't really moved in my life. I've lived in the same house all my life and I only went to Lincoln for University so it's not too far from my hometown. 

36. I would love to visit Italy, New York and the Caribbean. 

37. I have two tattoos - one on my ribcage and one on my hip. My ribcage is a phoenix feather with the deathly hallows symbol with the quote 'it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live'. My hip is a cupcake because Dad calls me his 'little cupcake' :')

38. Which leads onto my next fact - I love Harry Potter! It's played a pretty big part of my life. 

39. I also love quotes, especially motivational or happy ones. 

40. I hoard cushions, blankets, home decor bits and plush toys. I have so many at home and at uni it's pretty bad how many I have. 

41. I have a slight fear of the future - whilst I'm pretty excited for what it holds, I'm kinda terrified for it as well because it's the unknown. 

42. I don't drive, I have done lessons and been close to passing but I lost all confidence and I have this weird thought process in my head about driving and how dangerously scary it could be. I think the amount of accidents in my area have had something to do with it, I'm just really scared to drive. However, I'm looking to start lessons again and hopefully pass over the summer - wish me luck!

43. My favourite book at the moment is The Book Thief. I've done a blog post on this and I'm going to re-read it again next week I loved it that much. 

44. My favourite Youtubers include the Shaytards, Caseylavere and the whole Butler crew, SprinkleOfGlitter and Tanya Burr.

45. My favourite kind of music to relax to is the film soundtracks with ochestra such as The Lord Of The Rings. It's bloody brilliant (the film and books are also brilliant)

46. I find farts hilarious. 

47. I love my hair being played with and my back being stroked (hint hint Kayne)

48. My all time favourite perfume is Alien by Theirry Mugler  (Excuse the spelling incase it's wrong, I can never get it right)

49. I have the best bunch of friends, family and boyfriend. I love them all dearly.

50. Finally, now that I've plucked up the courage to start a blog off and keep it going the way I am doing and taking it seriously - how cool would it be if it was to become really popular and take off? Being a professional blogger would be amazing. I hope you'll join me on this adventure and see where it takes us! 

So there you have it, 50 random facts about me! I hope you feel like you know me a little bit better and I hope you enjoyed reading this post. The next post will be my June favourites (already half way through the year crikey) so that will be up in the next couple of days. Share, comment, +1, you guys know the drill!  Thanks for reading,

Katie x 

#NoFearGoSmear

Hey guys,

So this is going to be something thats pretty different to the usual stuff I write about on my blog. However, I feel that it is something that definitely needs to be discussed and that is smear tests.  So a little disclaimer before I start writing: I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable whilst reading this, I only want to help raise awareness on just how important smear tests are and I don't want to upset people either, I just want to talk about it. Also any views or opinions expressed on here are entirely my own other than the stats that have been provided for me.

I love my pussy/ies, all five of them!

The past week in the UK (I'm not sure about the rest of the world) has been Cervical Screening Awareness Week and it's a pretty serious thing because it can save your life. However, there is such a taboo about going for the smear test. I think this mainly to the fact that you have to show your vagina (otherwise known as a vajayjay, minky, minnie, flower, foofoo, fanny) to a nurse who you may not know very well. The whole process can be very nerve wracking and embarrassing for some. But in all honesty the nurse won't care about how your vagina looks, she's there to do her job and to make sure that everything is fine.

 I can imagine the thought process of women due for a smear test and these are just a couple examples: *should I shave or leave it, tidy it up a bit or does that look ok how it is?* or *What kind of underwear should I wear? My usual or something else?*. 

The nurse won't be paying attention to how your vagina looks outside, she's concerned with the inside! The nurse has probably seen tonnes of vaginas too.

If I was given the chance for a smear test - but due to my age, I am denied that right - I wouldn't hesitate to get myself booked in. I don't know whether it's because my mum has had cancer in the past (breast cancer) and she kept putting it off and putting it off from going to the doctors. When we got the news, I didn't know at the time if my mum was going to be around for much longer. I put off University for a year and everything just incase anything did happen to her. It was such a gruelling and horrible time and I never want to experience that again. 2011 and 2012 was some of the toughest times I've had to go through. Any form of cancer is heartbreaking and anyone who fights it are amazing, strong and courageous people. But I can't stress or write about just how important having your smear test is because as I've said about twenty times in this post and like millions of women across the globe have said: It can save your life! 

There are a few petitions going around online to get the age limit lowered to 16 years old, so if you see any on social networking sites or on petition sites such as change.org then please sign them it takes just a couple minutes to do and it can make such a difference to someones life. 

A couple minutes of discomfort whilst the nurse takes a swab of your vagina is worth more than your life.

Your life has value and worth. You are worth it. 

The lovely ladies over on @CervicalScreen1 twitter have kindly sent me some stats about smear tests. If you have any concerns or questions, drop them a DM and they'd be more than happy to help. Some of these stats are as follows:

33% is quite a large percentage, it's scary to  imagine how many women that equates to.

Lets raise awareness girls and lets change the taboo of smear tests. Follow campaigns such as #NoFearGoSmear and #DontFearTheSmear. Social networking is a massive platform and a fantastic way to raise awareness on the importance of cervical screening! There's also information on websites such as the NHS and Cancer Research UK if you wanted to check those out.

Thanks for reading this, I really appreciate it. I hope some good comes out of this post. Please, I don't want anyone to think that I am only saying that ovarian cancer, cervical cancer etc are more important or worse than any other form of cancer, because it's not. Every form of cancer is horrible and gruesome and can have devastating effects but I am mainly focusing on smear tests for now. If any body wants to speak about smear tests or cancer in general then feel free to either comment below or message me privately either via email or DM on Twitter or speak to @CervicalScreen1 on Twitter. So again, thank you all for reading this exceptionally long post, I'm sorry for rambling on so much. I'll post again soon,

Katie x

Benefit Cosmetics super mini haul and samples!

Hey guys!

So I've done a bad thing and blown money on the Benefit Cosmetics website again... whoopsie daisy. But, it was worth it :) I paid for two items so this is a super duper mini haul. I purchased the Rollerlash mascara and the Hoola bronzer. I used a special code to get two freebie samples of Dreamscreen and Lollitint, then at the check out you usually get to pick two samples for free so I went with Professional and Puff Off. I'll tell you a bit about each of those as the post moves along but I'm really excited to write this as I love Benefit Cosmetics. It is probably a joint first place with MAC for me right now, all for different reasons. 

Rollerlash mascara - 

So if you've read my blog before you will know that I absolutely adore this product, I used to be a  faithful follower of the They're Real mascara by Benefit but when I tried Rollerlash I was completely turned by this product. It just makes such a difference to your lashes, it doesn't make them look clumpy and gross, just naturally curly and long. Aside from eyebrows, my eyelashes are probably what I take most pride on with my facial makeup, I'm one of those annoying people who will redo their mascara about 50 times until I deem it fit for others to see (yep, I'm pretty sad) And this does them amazingly every time. I use this mascara day in, day out for work, social, night out, everyday... you name it I'll more than likely wear it for that (other than swimming or a bath because then it'll run and I'll just look silly) it's only JUST beginning to run out and I think I bought my first Rollerlash in March sometime? So that's how bloody good it is. If you want a full, indepth review on Rollerlash then here's the link from my blog:

http://lifebeautylove-km.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/rollerlash-mascara-is-it-really-holy.html

Hoola bronzing powder -

Ok, I've wanted this bronzer for a while now but this was my dilemma: whenever I try bronzer no matter how light it may be I ALWAYS look like I've smeared poo on my face... Yep, bad isn't it? Bronzer and me just have a horrible history and we don't get on. However, I gave Hoola the benefit of the doubt (ha, get it? Benefit?) after reading all the great reviews on it and plucked the courage to give it a shot. Safe to say I love it, I've worn it twice since it arrived in the post - the second I opened it and for work today. It made my skin look so healthy and tanned. It's a pigmented powder but it's not overly done, it's a nice and natural shade. I'm debating whether to give Hoola it's own blog post for a more in depth review, what do you guys think? I also love the name, reminds me of Hawaii, summer and all things fun-loving! The little miniature brush you get with Hoola is also really good, I've used it both times and it's super soft and applies wonderfully which of course is an added bonus.

So now onto the sample freebies so these sections will be much smaller :)

Porefessional sample -

I'm really glad I got to sample this because it's another product I've wanted to try out because of how great the reviews are but never actually tried it for whatever reason. First things first the sample I tried - I loved! It's super super super soft on the skin (I used super three times it's that soft) and it blends in instantly. It helped minimise my pore appearance and created a matte look to my 'tend to get oily as the day progresses' areas, instead of a shiny look, which I'm really glad about. I didn't have to re-apply at all during the day which is a massive plus. I will definitely purchase a full size version of Porefessional and more than likely the whole porefessional range (particularly the new 'license to blot') 

Puff off! sample - 

Again, if you read my blogs you know I suffer with dark circles and puffy under eyes. So when I was given the option to sample this, naturally I went with it. Instant difference to my puffy dark eyes when I applied it. It cooled them upon touch, I swear I saw the puffy go down but maybe that's because I was watching my under eyes like a hawk to check this. Puff Off! made my eyes appear brighter after application and lasted for much of the day, this is another product I will be buying a full version of!

Lollitint -

In the sample tube, this looks like quite an in your face pink shade that stains your lips and cheeks, so I was apprehensive about trying it to begin with but it's actually quite subtle to the lips when you've applied and blended it in. I didn't have enough courage to try it on my cheeks incase I didn't like it and was unable to take it off, but I'm interested in the whole tint range now, so this was a good little experiment for me and it's helped me broaden my makeup possibilities, I never thought I could get into tint but after trying Lollitint I think I could. 

Dreamscreen - 

This is the only product I haven't tried because the weather here has been miserable and wet on and off for the last few days. However, I squeezed a small circle on my arm and it felt so soft and smelt great. It's an SPF 45 so it's really good protection against the sun on your face. This would be really ideal for me as my face always burns on holiday. Alas, my review for Dreamscreen is a bit naff I'm afraid as it's the one thing I've not been able to try because of the weather, argh :( I've heard some good things about it though so fingers crossed I'll like it. 

That's everything for todays post guys! I hope you've enjoyed the read, let me know what you think in the comment section below. Don't forget to share and tell your friends about my blog if you think it's their thing and if you enjoy my posts! Any feedback is welcome <3 Thanks for reading.

Katie x 

Garnier PureActive Intensive Exfobrusher Spot Fighter review!

Hey guys,

Wow, that title is a bit of a mouthful... They should make their products easier to say. Anywhooo, today I am going to review the exfobrusher (we'll just call it that, it's much easier). I've not posted in a week because I've pretty much been focusing on getting the review just right for this product and I wanted to test it properly to see how much of a difference it really made to my skin and spot breakouts. I was going through a phase where my skin just felt dead oily with under the skin spots - you name it! Without bragging too much it's safe to say that I usually have pretty good skin, so there was clearly something in my lifestyle effecting my skin to make it go how it did. So that's how I came to buy the exfobrusher. I like and dislike it for different reasons. I wasn't overly thrilled with the product but then I was kinda happy with it at the same time. I'll explain why down below!

So first things first - the price. I don't really like paying a lot for facial products as I have sensitive skin and I don't really use facial products much at all, I pretty much only use face wipes or makeup remover on my skin and thats it. I think I snapped up the exfobrusher for around £5 at Tesco so I was pretty happy with that. However, I found that I definitely got what I paid for with this product. The brush at the end felt horrible on my skin, maybe that's because it's like rubber but it made me cringe massaging it in circles on my face. It also took AGES to make a foam on my skin, even after applying loads to the brush and giving it a good massage on my face.

As you can see from this very bad photo of me - probably the only bare face photos I'll post on this blog - it just made my skin incredibly red. Which I did not like at all as that then meant I had to wait for my skin to calm down before I could put makeup on or anything like that. Not only that, it made me self conscious that my skin was going to have red patches forever (some super weird thinking there Katie, but I did) so afterwards I only did it at night time rather than morning and night. 

I've only just realised how wonky and large my nose looks. Holy cow.

I didn't really notice a massive difference in my skin at all, I still have spots on my forehead and one on my chin, it's just dried them out and made them all flaky. BUT, a big but here... It made my skin super soft so it must've done something there e.g. take all the dead crappy skin off my face to make it that soft. I also tested this product out on Kayne under much protest and it did make a huge difference to his skin. It made his skin super soft, reduced the redness of spots and even helped clear a few up. So I think this product depends entirely on your skin type and it is definitely not for everyone. 

So all in all, I am not overly impressed with this product. I will definitely give it another shot at some point but for now, I'll leave it be. I don't think I'll be buying it again. I hate giving reviews that aren't that optimistic because I really don't want to feel as though I am damaging the reputation of the product but it's just not clicked with me at all which is disappointing. I'll post again in a couple days with something a bit more enjoyable to read. Would people like it if I did a post every now and then on my cats? I feel like they deserve some limelight on my blog! Let me know :). Thanks for reading this guys,

Katie x 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: A Review

Hey guys,

So today I've decided to write about something a little bit different. The difference is that I'm reviewing the highly rated novel, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. 

Now, this is something I've wanted to read for a long time, but because of all of the hype that came with it, it kind of put me off and set the expectations really high so when I finally did get down to reading it I can tell you this now, I wasn't disappointed. At first, it's slow to get into, it took me a while to work out what the hell was going on - who was who and such but once I got into the swing of things I found it difficult to put down. 

Not heard of The Book Thief you say? Here's just a small sample of what the blurb says: 'Here is a small fact: You are going to die. 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier.' 

Just this alone was enough to reel me in. It's straight to the point you know roughly what it is going to be about: The Holocaust, Nazi Germany, WW2. 

The narrator is death and how Zasuk has done this - wow. It is so clever. When I first discovered this I was like 'yeah, this isn't going to be easy to pull off' but it really does work. Whether it's because it is set during WW2 so death was imminent or it was just one of those things where everything falls magically into place I don't know, but what I do know is that it bloody works. 

The characters are so likeable. Sort of like Game of Thrones - you love the characters so it's inevitable that something bad must happen to them. Hans Hubermann, probably one of the most genuine, honest and nicest characters I've ever had the pleasure of reading. I'm trying to be super careful what I write because I don't want any spoilers for those who haven't read it, so the next couple bits are going to be a bit vague...

I'll just say this, at one point in the book (I won't say which) I was sat at work... Wait for this... Crying. Yep, I cried like a baby in the middle of a working day. It just moved me and I mean really moved me to tears and tugged on my heart strings. I got pretty mad too at some points in the book (baring in mind this involves The Holocaust) it just made me so angry to know that innocent people suffered the way they did and so many lives were affected during Nazi Germany. But I'm not here to get angry, I'm here to give my honest review of the novel. There's not a single thing I would suggest to make this book 'better' it's already at its peak. The standard of writing, the plot, the characters and their lives all intertwining, everything - spot on. 

As I've said already, I've not read a book in so long that I've enjoyed so bloody much. If you haven't had the chance to read this book yet PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do. You'll thank me for it. I'm so glad I've read it now. It was interesting to see Nazi Germany from different perspectives like Death, Liesel, Max, Rudy and Hans. It shows so many different emotions - anger, hatred, loss, love, happiness. All of them. This post is getting longer and longer so I'm going to wrap this one up. I will definitely be reading this again and I can't wait to watch the film (I just hope it's as good as the book) please read this if you get the chance. If you have read it already - drop a comment below and we can discuss it! :) I hope you liked this post today and I'll write again in a couple days. Thanks for reading,

Katie x 

May favourites!

Hey guys!

This month has flown by. I can't believe it. I say the same pretty much every month, but I genuinely don't know where the last thirty one days or so has gone! It's been a great month - I finished second year of University, started working full time for the summer to get some moolah (hurrah, bye bye overdraft), saw S Club 7, partied like I was a fresher in my last week of University and so much more. So the blog has been quiet recently, as you're all well aware :(. However, I have babbled enough for now so here are my favourite products/items of the month!

MAC - Kinda Sexy, MAC blusher - Pinch Me, EOS lip balm,  MAC lipliner - Whirl, Nomination bracelet.

EOS lip balm - 

I have already done a blog post on the EOS lip balm range the other month but I feel like it deserves another mention because I have been using this daily at work (my lips have been so dry and chapped) and it has performed miracles on my lips. So now not only do I have great looking lips but they smell and feel great too. If you want to try the EOS range please please please please (and many more pleases) try them out. The price is a bit much I agree but they are so worth it.

MAC lipstick - Kinda Sexy -

My last blog post included this shade and it's safe to say I love it. I have worn this so much and received a fair few compliments since. I really do think this is a great summer shade and one I will definitely be buying when it runs out. I just love it so much and lasts forever on my lips even when I have a bite to eat or drink. If you head over to my last blog post with the swatches and reviews, you'll see a more in depth section on Kinda Sexy.  PS - the names for the MAC lipsticks are so cool and you do feel kinda sexy when you wear it. A supper flattering shade.

MAC Blusher - Pinch Me

Ok, so this looks nothing like it does on the website (surprise surprise, I really need to live somewhere with a MAC counter or store) and I was kinda bummed when I first opened it because I thought it would be way too dark for my face, but surprisingly it's not. It's just super pigmented and a little goes a VERY long way indeed. I was originally stuck between this shade and 'Melba' but opted for this instead and now I'm glad that I did. It's always fun (and scary) to try make-up that is out of your comfort zone. As you can see from the picture, it's a really nice rose colour. Again, great name! It's a really long lasting blusher which is super ideal for me too because I work from 9-5 and sometimes later so the last thing I want to be doing is re-applying make-up every couple of hours, I don't ever have to re-apply this blusher. MAC have definitely scored a winner with this one and I can't wait to try out more shades!

MAC lip liner - Whirl

Ok, so I bought this to go with my Velvet Teddy lipstick as I had read on a dozen pages that this lip liner is the best one to wear with Velvet Teddy. I 1000% agree with this. I had never really worn or tried lip liner so I was pretty much a virgin to all of the lip liner craze. I can now see why for so many people, lip liner is a must have in their make-up bag. It creates such a huge difference to your lips - the shape, the final look of your lips... everything. Whirl is such a blendable shade too and it doesn't stick out on your lips like a sore thumb. It also looks great with Kinda Sexy!

Nomination Italy - Charm bracelet

I recieved this from the in-laws on my 21st birthday, after hinting to Kayne for about a year that I'd love one. I just really love the Nomination bracelets and how you can build them, change the charms around and everything else. The initial bracelet I don't think is too costly, it is the charms that add up the price. I have five charms in total - a cocktail (because I go out quite a lot and never say no to a cocktail or three), two golden cats (L.O.V.E cats), a 21 charm, a shoe (I have over 80 pairs of shoes that I can think of, and I love shopping...) then a white rose which is so pretty and it compliments the rest of the charms. When my next pay packet comes I'm definitely going to buy another charm. It's really cool how you put the charms on too - you take out links and replace them with charm links. They all hook underneath each other. So weird to explain I know. Nomination isn't that popular either, it's not that it isn't popular because it isn't nice jewellery, it's gorgeous and so thoughtful, I just think Pandora is the charm giant and around 80% of men and women that I know; myself included have a Pandora bracelet. So, fellows and ladies - if you're wanting something a little bit different that holds all the sentimental thoughts and looks fabulous on your wrists, then look no further than a Nomination bracelet! They are absolutely beautiful and are definitely worth it.

So, there are my favourites for May. I hope you enjoyed this read. Share it around, leave a comment, anything at all would be great :) Also, remember if you have anything specifically you would like me to write about, then just let me know and I'll happily try or see what I can do! :) Thanks for reading guys, I'll write again in a couple days,

Katie x